


Petrichor

by ckff



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, Tags Are Hard, this is going to be kind of cutesy at first but i make no promises for the future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-09
Updated: 2015-01-09
Packaged: 2018-03-06 20:57:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3148331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ckff/pseuds/ckff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You don't want to make friends with the neighbor. He's creepy. Even Mikasa said he was creepy, so that means he's actually, truly creepy. </p>
<p>He is interesting, though, you can admit that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Petrichor

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Please know that I am pretty much nervous sweating all over my laptop right now because this is the first thing I'm writing for Attack on Titan and I'm just really really extra mega nervous.
> 
> Forgetting that, I guess I should just say that I did the efficient author thing for once and have already written/fleshed out almost all of this story. I am very excited for you to read it and appreciate any criticism!
> 
> But I digress. Onwards with the story, I hope you enjoy.

+

Personally, you don't believe in fate. Destiny and all that jazz never did sit quite right with you. It wasn't destined for you to butter your toast that morning instead of using jam like you customarily do. Fate didn't swoop in and make your cowlick more complicated to deal with that usual. These things didn't have reason or rhyme, they just happened; they were just so. So you never truly believed in any of it. You still don't, even now.

However, you have grown appreciative of this fact. You used to find it depressing, that life was just one thing happening after another, never really seeming to correlate, but now you embrace it. These circumstances, these small, meaningless happenings-- they all have a much larger, bigger toll on life in the long run. Even the ones that don't seem to are still so special; the tiny, stupid parts of life are what make the amazing, miraculous parts seem so goddamn incredible.

Personally, you don't believe in fate; you believe that life is as it will be. And sometimes, it's ridiculously, unbelievably beautiful.

+

* * *

 

You move into a new house in the winter. You stay inside most of the time because of this. It's winter, it's cold, and you don't know anyone. There is no reason to go outside and freeze your ass off just to 'make friends' as Mikasa says. As if Mikasa would know anything about making friends anyway. Armin is the only one either of you have, and he's clearly more your friend than hers. He's on the other side of town now, however, and you are here.

You should be happy, you suppose. The house is gorgeous, you can't deny that. Your mother gushes over the ivy running up the bricks, and your father quite enjoys that spacious living on the interior, giving him the room he always needed for his office in the basement. Mikasa likes the house too. She says it reminds her of her old home, with her actual parents. You don't comment when she says that, and she just holds the scarf you gave her closer to her face.

School is the same, thankfully. You didn't move far away enough that you had to switch high schools. Jean still sits by you in chemistry, all the teachers still implementing the last name seating chart maneuver. You wish K would have just left J alone and been at the end of the alphabet instead of right next to it, but alas. The first day back from winter break begins with Professor Zoe assigning a project, which you'll have to do with Jean, much to your annoyance.

"Give me the number to your house," he says as the bell rings.

"You're not gonna call my house asking for Mikasa, are you?"

Jean blushes, and punches you in the shoulder. He uses his height to try and intimidate you, which is stupid because he's just all gangly limbs and awkward sixteen year old everything, just like you, except you're shorter but that doesn't mean anything, and you're seventeen already, so suck it, Jean. "Shut the hell up, Jaeger, I'm over her!" You don't care if he is or not. But you start arguing with him anyway. Something about Jean is familiar, and although it annoys you, you suppose it also comforts you, in an odd way. His arguments and Armin still being at the lunch table at school is all the same, even with a different household.

You breathe a sigh of relief but also frown down at your mashed potatoes.

It's weird, you think. You've become adjusted to these settings in your life; entirely too comfortable with them, really. Routine is routine, yes. It's also devastatingly boring.

* * *

 

Mikasa will not stop with the friends thing. "Eren, it's not healthy to only have Armin and I." You can't stand the way she talks to you sometimes. You love her, you really do, but she's such a mom. Carla is on you enough already, you don't need her constant hovering to deal with as well.

She can't help it, you suppose. Her mother was taken from her so early; she probably believes that motherly is by far the best thing someone can be, and you would never rob Mikasa of that.

She smiles on the Monday when Armin comes home with you guys instead of taking his usual bus route, and you savor it. She sees you looking and immediately stops. She tells you later, "I just want you to go out and meet people because you're sociable, unlike me, Eren." You have to guess that's her nice way of saying she's calmly introverted and you're ridiculously, annoyingly extraverted, but that can't be helped. You simply have a natural inclination to be loud and excitable, that's all.

So you do step outside one day to get some fresh air. It's healthy, you tell yourself, feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin. You decide to go for a short run around the neighborhood. If anyone sticks out to you, you'll interact with them. Person met equals no reason for Mikasa to complain anymore. Perfect plan.

Oddly enough, there is no one outside at all. You wonder if this is the world's way of saying 'See? You really aren't meant to make new friends after all,' when you spot someone standing in the middle of a yard, watering a tree.

You slow in your running because _damn_. First off, that is a sweet ass. Also, you've never really been into anyone and therefore weren't aware you had a preference, but short girls are rad, you decide. She's wearing a sunhat, a light plaid shirt and some tight jeans and damn, really, that's a nice butt if you've ever seen one. You run towards her and yell, "Hey! I'm Eren, new in this neighborhood."

She turns around and that's when you realize wow okay that's not even a girl.

And he's probably not even that young, honestly, just ridiculously short, like a little more than a head smaller than you. He's got dark circles under his eyes and a crease between his brows that suggests he rarely, if ever, smiles. "I'm not new to this neighborhood and you are standing on my Daffodils."

"Oh shit, sorry!" You step back and lean down to fix the crushed flowers.

He snorts. "So chivalry isn't dead."

You raise a brow and he moves over to water the crushed flowers, tending to them much more gently than you had earlier. He's right beside you and you gasp at the proximity. "Daffodils mean chivalry, or at least that's what people like to say. They'll live, even with your idiocy threatening them."

Okay, forget the nice ass, this dude is weird. "Uh yeah," you mutter, standing up. "It was, um. Nice to meet you."

"Same to you," he says, rather unconvincingly, if you might add, which you don't. You don't say anything at all as you run back home and wonder how in the hell Mikasa thought you could ever make friends. That was a total disaster in every way and form.

* * *

 

You're totally psyched when you get a callback for the role of Hamlet. You're even more excited when you find out Jean didn't get a callback for that role, instead for Claudius. "Figures," you say at the lunch table that day. "Of course you'd play the evil asshole."

"Oh, shut the fuck up, Jaeger, I don't even care," he mutters.

Reiner shrugs from his spot next to Bertholdt. "I think you're lying, dude. You do know that Krista got a callback for Ophelia, right?"

"Damn," Connie laughs, "You gonna get on that, Eren?"

You blanch. "We've known her since the third grade, dude. She's like my little sister."

"I think Ymir would kill you if you tried anything anyways," Armin comments as he takes a bite of his peas.

Marco laughs lightly, in that calming way of his. "Don't worry Jean, you'll be great as Claudius."

Jean's face turns red and he looks away and the whole table laughs this time.

You're kind of glad that theater started up as soon as school did. It's kind of one of the only things that keeps things interesting in school. You've been in it since freshman year, seeing as acting was the only thing Mikasa wasn't ridiculously good at, but you've never received a legitimate role before. It's nice to receive the role.

"You'll do fine," Armin says quietly to you, and you realize you two are the only ones left at the table, everyone else heading off to class already. "I'm not in theater, but I've seen you act, Eren... you are talented." You smile. Armin is a good friend, and you shouldn't ignore that just because you're in a slump.

"Thanks, Armin. You promise me to not stress out over that calculus test you have tomorrow, okay?" He laughs and doesn't even get mad at you when you ruffle his hair as you two leave the cafeteria.

* * *

 

Carla is insistent. "Eren, your father is running for city council this month, that's why you have to do it. Stop whining."

"But mom," you say, and not in a whining tone, because you're almost a grown ass man, you do not whine, no matter what your mother says. "I have school work." You're lying, you don't have anything to do but that project with Jean, but it's not like your mom knows that.

"Mikasa, you deal with him," she says as she slips on a jacket and grabs the car keys from the kitchen table. "I have to stop by the store, and when I come home, all those baskets should be delivered!" She smiles in that obviously sarcastic way of hers and exits the house, leaving the two of you alone in the kitchen.

Mikasa slaps your hand when you go to steal a cookie from one of the gift baskets, and you groan. "Jeez, Mikasa, can you stop being a little kiss ass for two seconds?"

"She told us to deliver them, it's the least we can do for the campaign." You sigh but grab hold of some of the baskets anyway. If Mikasa is anything, she's dutiful, which is annoying, but a constant.

"I honestly don't care about the campaign," you mutter, more to yourself than to her, as both of you pile the gift baskets into the old wagon you used to drag her and Armin around in when you were kids. "Dad already won the past three times. What's another year?"

"A higher salary, meaning more food in the fridge to feed you, since you seemed inclined to eat all the ice cream before I even got one scoop."

"What, are you calling me fat or something? That's very middle school of you Mikasa, wouldn't expect your insults to drop to that level of stupidity," you bite back, a bit too harshly considering she wasn't being serious but you can't bring yourself to care. You realize that you are the one being immature but it doesn't make a difference. You're in a bad mood; Jean is coming over this weekend to work on the god awful project, so that's gonna suck, and Armin has been sick the past few days so you've just kinda been holed up with Mikasa.

It's not like she's unbearable or anything but... okay, her hovering is kind of unbearable after awhile. Plus, you're still stuck on the whole 'my life is so totally boring and routine' phase you've been in and you can't seem to get out of the slump. So you are instead taking it out on Mikasa, since she's the only one around.

"Eren, stop being an asshole-"

"Hey, how about this?" You start, your tone bitter. "I'll take half of the baskets and get this block, and you take the other half and get the other block. That's much more efficient, anyways, right?"

"Anything to get away from you," she whispers darkly, grabbing a few from the wagon and briskly leaving you in the middle of the sidewalk. After a beat you sigh. You probably shouldn't have went and pissed her off like that, but the time alone will be good for both of you. By the time you're both home, you know she'll be back to being your overprotective second mother and you'll be back to being deniably dependent on her as always.

The houses out in this town are all alike, the same shape and size, and the inhabitants are all either older people or families with children way too young for you to make friends with. The few people you do talk to are quite fond of your father, which is expected. Everyone is a fan of Dr. Jaeger, the man who took in an orphan when her parents both died in a fire, the one who took great care of his family and built his career from the bottom, the one who takes care of this community, who goes to every funeral in town and helps the family recover, who goes to schools to tutor kids, the perfect man, the perfect person.. But in your mind, he's just dad. A regular guy who didn't show up to the 6th grade science fair even though he promised.

You have one last gift basket when arriving at the creepy-neighbors house. You know it's his because it's the only one that actually looks unique. His yard has flowers and that big, huge tree growing in the middle of the yard. It's the only one that looks lived in, which is funny, because you get the feeling he lives alone.

"I guess mom made an extra," you hear from your left. You jump and turn to see Mikasa, also standing with a basket of her own. "This is the last house in the neighborhood."

"Yeah," you say quietly, looking at her and feeling like even more like an asshole than before, "I'm sorry, Mikasa, I was being an ass-"

"You were, but that's fine. You wouldn't be Eren if you weren't sometimes." Her lip twitches like she wants to smile, and you grin at her. "Let's just forget about it," she says as you both walk up toward the porch and knock on the door.

It takes about thirty seconds for someone to answer the door, and you are both surprised when you are face to face with your science teacher. "Professor Zoe?" You question.

Professor Zoe is an interesting woman, to say the least. She's always been overly ambitious and excitable, but is pleasant enough when not being horribly creepy. "Eren! Mikasa! It's great to see both of you!" She hugs you both tightly, which is weird, because you had sort of forgotten that teachers existed outside of school.

"Good to see you too, Professor," says Mikasa, who sounds like she's struggling to breath from the teachers tight grip.

"Ah, you can just call me Hanji outside of school!" Her glasses are askew when she pulls back and she steps out onto the porch with the both of you. "I was just leaving, so I'll see myself out," she says.

"You don't live here?" Mikasa asks.

Hanji laughs wildly and then points her thumb back at the doorway. "No, he does."

You both turn and nearly yelp when you see creepy neighbor standing in the door. "Get the hell out of here Hanji," he says between gritted teeth.

"He's just being mean because he doesn't want you two to know that I'm his BFF, that's all!" She laughs. "Oh! Are those gift baskets?" She sounds way too excited about a gift basket full of cookies and a few homemade snacks from your mother.

You nod. "Uh, yeah, we were just delivering them around the neighborhood-"

"Can I have one?!" She yells, making you step back at her volume. Mikasa hands her the basket and she squeals her thanks, nearly galloping down the driveway, cackling to herself in that manner that makes your hair stand on edge. You wonder what the hell she's going to do with those cookies, her actions insinuating that she was going to do something more... scientific than just eating them.

"Um, we brought one for you, too-" You start, but creepy-neighbor shakes his head, brushing his bangs back tiredly. You think his hair looks really soft.

"I will by no means take that." He grits his teeth but then his expression softens. "...But thank you," He mutters as he shuts the door quickly, leaving you and Mikasa standing there utterly dumbfounded.

"That was... weird." Mikasa says, and you can do nothing but nod in agreement.

* * *

 

You're jogging again, and your lungs are starting to sting a little when you come across creepy-neighbors house. It's his backyard, and you've never seen it before, so you're in awe. You can't help but be kind of amazed; you thought his front yard was ridiculous on the gardening scale, but this is... it's insane. There is a greenhouse full of plants, but the yard is also littered with them. A large part of the yard that isn't covered in flowers and shrubbery is encompassed by an actual garden, with ripening tomatoes and strawberries and the like. You walk toward the edge of the fence; you can't seem to stop yourself from looking at it and being horribly impressed.

"They're strawberries." You jump, holding down a yelp but only partially, gripping the fence tighter than before. Neighbor-guy is so fucking creepy, with his dark circles and permanent look of indifference, and his habit of just appearing out of nowhere. He speaks again, "That's why they look like that. Most fruits start out green."

"I know that." You breath.

"Then why were you staring at them so hard?" He asks, but it's clear he's not even mildly curious. He goes back to watering the gardenias and you consider just walking away but something makes you stay put and keep jamming your foot in your mouth.

"You put such care into them, I'm just admiring." He's quiet for a moment and goddammit that was so weird to say wasn't it? _Oh, creepy neighbor, the way you plant flowers is just so hot, I can't help myself._

"I'm watering them a lot more thanks to this draught."

"Draught?"

"It's only February," he starts as he moves down the row of plants, "but it hasn't rained in two weeks. I've checked the weather predictions for the next few weeks, and though they claim it will rain next weekend, I know better."

You want to ask for an explanation but then just settle with, "oh." You don't want to make friends with the neighbor. He's creepy. Even Mikasa said he was creepy, so that means he's actually, truly creepy.

He's interesting, though, you admit that to yourself when you're walking back toward your house. More interesting than anything else in this boring town.

* * *

 

Jean comes over to work on the project, and it's going pretty smoothly until Mikasa walks in. "Eren, I know I left my sports bra in the downstairs bathroom the other day, and it was your turn to do laundry, so where is it?" She's only wearing some workout shorts and a tank top, and goddammit she isn't even wearing a bra. Jean blushes profusely and you fight to keep your eyes from popping out of your head due to them rolling so hard.

"Jesus Christ, Mikasa, put some fucking clothes on before Jean pops a boner on my bed sheets!"

"Shut the fuck up, Jaeger, I-"

"I can't put on a bra if I don't know where it is, you idiot." Her voice raised by just the tiniest margin and you decide you'd rather not start another fight, especially since you two had just made up the other day.

"It's probably in moms room, I think I accidentally tossed it in with her stuff."

Mikasa briskly leaves the room and Jean lets out a sharp puff of air. "You fuckin' asshat."

"Can't help it that you're a perv for my sister, dude, that's your own problem."

"I don't fucking like her anymore, Jaeger. I told you I was over her." You ignore him and look out the window. The sky is dark and gray. Looks like creepy neighbor is going to be proved wrong soon.

Jean walks over to the computer, hulking over you and making you nervous. "I'm serious!"

"Whatever, Jean, you creepy pervert! I don't care anyway, dammit!"

Jean scoffs. "Aren't you going to ask me 'why?'"

"Do you want me to?!" You spit.

"Yes!" His tone is biting but he stops short, realizing his mistake. He gets quieter. "I mean... I mean, usually you're always in my business... but lately you've been... distracted. I dunno. Whatever. It doesn't matter." He goes back to his laptop and looks over the poster, but he's clearly embarrassed by his outburst, purposefully trying and failing to look busy as he waits for your reaction.

You shouldn't have been so dumb, anyway. As much as Jean annoys you, you realize that the two of you are some form of friends, no matter how fucked up. You guess it does make sense for you to be the one to talk to Jean; who else can he confide in? Connie? Yeah right.

You sigh. "Why don't you like Mikasa anymore?"

"Because," he says eagerly, "I'm in a relationship already."

You raise a brow. That actually is surprising, especially considering the fact that Jean is easily the ugliest specimen in town. "Really? With who?"

At this, Jean sinks into the seat a bit. "You can't tell anyone."

Rolling your eyes, you scoff and play with the Rubix cube Armin got you for your birthday a few years ago. You still have never solved it. "Are we in second grade, Jean?"

"I'm serious, Eren." You look up in surprise. Jean rarely, if ever, uses your first name. His face is grim.

"Well, who the hell is this mystery woman that can't be spoken of?" You try to think of possibilities, but then you realize you only know like, five girls in total. "Oh my god, is it Krista? Ymir is gonna cut your balls off dude-"

"It's not a girl, ok?!" Jean practically screams, his voice breaking at the last syllable and his face becoming a shade equivalent of a tomato.

You stare in a mixture of incredulity and confusion. "...Um. So... a guy...?"

"Yeah." Jean breathes. He flops back on the bed, throwing an arm across his eyes and sighing. "It's Marco."

A crack of thunder is heard from outside. Damn, neighbor dude really shouldn't trust his instincts. "Marco?" You're in disbelief as Jean shoves his face into your pillow. He'd better not get horse germs on it. "Like... 'super conservative, goes with his dad to church every Sunday, has a shot-gun wielding parent' Marco?"

"Yes, that one." Jean moans into the pillow.

"...Damn." It's all you can think to say.

"I fuckin' know." Jean will never admit it to you, but he's totally whining. You bet the idiot is almost crying into the pillow. He better not leave any nasty dirty salty tears on it, you gotta sleep tonight.

It's odd seeing Jean so vulnerable. So you decide to go for what's customary. "I should've known. You two were always extra flirty in pre-cal. Sharing pencils and you pretending to not understand the unit circle, you dirty dog-"

Jean throws the pillow at you and you laugh and things go back to normal. The conversation takes a back seat and you both get set on finishing the project. Backhanded insults and general conversation settle in and you feel like smiling even though you're with stupid ugly Jean.

When you fall asleep that night, you realize creepy neighbor was right. Despite the clouds and thunder, it didn't rain. Not one drop.


End file.
